Annie Leibovitz faces lawsuit from fellow photographer

The bad news continues to pile on celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, who now faces a lawsuit by an Italian photographer claiming she used his shots without permission.

Leibovitz is already facing massive debt and a default on a major loan which could see the loss of her entire picture collection as well as three homes. Now, she faces another legal dispute.

Paolo Pizzetti is seeking a court order to stop pictures, which he alleges he took, from being used and wants $300,000 US for copyright infringement in addition to having the photos destroyed, according to BBC News.

He says Leibovitz used photos that he had taken in Rome and Venice and passed them off as her own for a coffee company's 2009 calendar.

A spokesperson for the New York City-based photographer had no comment on the matter.

Pizzetti filed the lawsuit in New York federal court this week.

In those papers, he says the 59-year-old photographer whose shots of celebrities often grace the covers and pages of Vanity Fair magazine had hired him to scout locales in Italy for Lavazza coffee in April 2008.

He took photographs, including ones of the famous Plaza San Marco in Venice and the Trevi Fountain in Rome, and sent the images digitally to her.He was then told later that Leibovitz would not be visiting Italy at all.

Models superimposed on photos

When the calendar was released in October of 2008, Pizzetti says he could see that two of his shots had been used with models superimposed on the photos.

According to the complaint, Pizzetti says he noticed the "same bird in the upper left portion" of the image of the Plaza San Marco.

He says Leibovitz never sought his permission to use the photos for the calendar.

The suit is the latest financial woe to hit Leibovitz, who is also being sued for defaulting on a $24-million US loan that is secured against rights to her collection.

Art Capital Group, a New York company that issues short-term loans against fine arts and real estate, sued her in late July for breach of contract.

Leibovitz has also put up three of her homes in New York state as collateral.